For immediate release Contact: Catherine DeLoughry Greater Chamber of Commerce (412) 281-4783 ext. 3131

PITTSBURGH COMEBACK STORY RE-ENERGIZING CITIES ACROSS AMERICA

THE FILM INSPIRING LOVE FOR YOUR COMMUNITY IS COMING TO THE U.S. CAPITOL VISITOR CENTER MARCH 23

"A movie that is timely, moving, and - above all - entertaining. You can't get an entire city into therapy - but this film is the next best thing - a funny self-help guide for cities looking at their future." -- Mitch Teich, Producer, Milwaukee Public Radio

PITTSBURGH, PA. (March 19, 2010) — A story of urban and personal transformation set in Pittsburgh is attracting national attention and now it’s on its way to the nation’s capital. On March 23rd, the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District (BID) will sponsor the first of its kind event at the new U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, a special screening of the movie, My Tale of Two Cities, a funny and heartfelt tale of one city’s inspiring comeback as told through a personal journey about coming home again and coming to terms with our pasts in order to redefine who we are.

The film, set in Pittsburgh and Hollywood, has attracted crowds in various cities where it has played across North America, from Windsor, Ontario to Santa Fe, New Mexico, who have identified with its timely theme of people and cities reinventing themselves for a new age. Downtown groups from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Washington, DC have embraced the movie and its message.

Capitol Hill BID president, Patty Brosmer, believes “My Tale of Two Cities’ theme of ‘loving the city you live in’ is a story not only Pittsburgh and DC share, but one every city across the country can find inspiration from.”

Following the screening, Newsweek’s and MSNBC’s Howard Fineman will lead a prestigious panel of community and business leaders including Congressman Mike Doyle who represents Pittsburgh; Washington D.C. Economic Development Partnership’s Executive Director, Steve Moore; Franco Harris, Philanthropist and Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers running back; and the film’s writer/director, Carl Kurlander (co-author of the movie St. Elmo’s Fire) who will discuss the revitalization of cities and challenges faced by communities across the nation.

“This film highlights the challenges that Pittsburgh, like many of our older cities, has faced and overcome in revitalizing itself and adapting to changes taking place in the world around it,” says Congressman Doyle who hopes this screening will call attention to city renaissance issues, such as those addressed by The Community Regeneration, Sustainability and Innovation Act, H.R. 932, a bill aimed at providing $350 million towards 30 cities that face similar urban challenges as Pittsburgh.

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Joining Congressman Doyle as honorary chairs of this special event are Senators and Robert Casey, Jr., as well as Congressman Jason Altmire (D-PA), Congressman (D-PA), Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-OH), and Congressman Steve LaTourette (R-OH).

The event is presented in partnership with the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, with support from the Westinghouse Electric Company, the Pittsburgh-based company that commercialized nuclear energy, an industry that is undergoing a renaissance of its own.

The event is free but seating is limited, to reserve tickets, email: [email protected]

Members of the press who plan on attending the event must be cleared through Congressman Doyle’s office, and should contact the Congressman’s Communications Director, Matt Dinkel, at 202-225-2135. The film is available to the media for review prior to the screening. Please contact Nina at (202) 842- 3333.

About My Tale of Two Cities:

Screenwriter (St. Elmo’s Fire) and TV writer/producer (Saved By The Bell) Carl Kurlander was living in Hollywood when he received an offer to go back to his hometown and teach at the . In search for a more meaningful and balanced life for himself and his family, Carl decided to move back to Pittsburgh, the real life “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

Reality intruded on the Neighborhood of Make Believe not long after. Fred Rogers died and the City of Pittsburgh declared itself “financially distressed.”

With both himself and his hometown in a mid-life crisis, Kurlander set out on a quixotic quest to make a film to help the place where he grew up. Armed with a cranky cameraman, funded by his dermatologist, and often battling his wife, who longed to return to the sunny West Coast, Carl asks his neighbors from the famous (Steeler Franco Harris, Teresa Heinz Kerry) to the not-so-famous (his old gym teacher, the girl who inspired St. Elmo’s Fire) how this once great industrial giant, which built America with its steel, conquered polio, and invented everything from aluminum to the Big Mac, reinvented itself for a new age.

Ultimately, the film explores what it means to come home again and how individuals can make a difference in re-energizing the communities in which they grew up. We are reminded of this by Pittsburgh’s late Mayor Bob O’ Connor who articulates in the movie that, even in dark times, if we work together and believe in ourselves, it can still be a “beautiful day in the neighborhood.”

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Producers Stephanie Dangel and Carl Kurlander can be reached at 310-386-0059 or [email protected]. The film’s distributor, Stuart Strutin of Panorama Entertainment, can be reached at (914) 937 1603 or [email protected]. For further information, visit www.mytaleoftwocities.com.

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